Equine Behaviour BAG216

What is the Purpose of Animal Behaviour?

It is assumed that all animal behaviour is an adaptation designed to support survival, either directly or indirectly. However, this is not always the case. Animals can behave self-destructively, out of habit, or out of boredom, just as humans can. To better understand the behaviour, we should also consider what motivates it.

Course Structure

This course is comprised of seven lessons, outlined below:

1. Introduction: Influences and motivation
2. Genetics and Behaviour
3. Equine Perception and Behaviour
4. Communication and Social Behaviour
5. Sexual and Reproductive Behaviour
6. Learning and Training
7. Behavioural Problems

Aims

• Identify factors affecting equine behaviour.
• Describe the influence of genes on equine behaviour.
• Explain how horses perceive and how they respond to various stimuli
• Explain how horses communicate and the nature of their social organisation.
• Explain the sexual and reproductive behaviour of the horse.
• Describe the different ways that horses learn and how this can be applied to the training environment.
• Explain how and why behavioural problems occur and how they can be prevented

KINDS OF BEHAVIOUR

Three general categories of behaviour are reactive behaviours, active behaviours, and cognitive behaviours.

Reactive Behaviour

Reactive behaviour includes stereotypic behaviour which is largely automatic. These are the most primitive types of behaviours which have been fully established in the animal well before it is born. Animal tropisms (automatic orientation responses) such as balancing and positioning are reactive behaviours. Other tropisms include things such as breathing, avoiding heat or opening the eyes.

Active Behaviours

Active behaviours are developed from inherited potentials. The animal is born with a tendency to act a certain way, but a degree of learning must occur for that behaviour to develop. The process is a little like a computer which delivers pre-programmed responses on demand; the way to act might be built into the animal's genetic make-up, but it requires a certain stimulus before the action happens. These behaviours in part occur through parental training (eg. running, walking, grooming). This is a more elaborate type of behaviour than reactive behaviour. It is believed to occur only in more advanced animals (ie. arthropods and vertebrates), though there is some evidence that lower order animals can also learn behaviour.

Cognitive Behaviour

Cognitive behaviours are the most advanced forms of behaviour. Genetics provides only a very general influence, and the actual behaviour is more influenced by the environment and experience. Cognitive behaviour is more or less ?deliberate? activity. The animal doesn?t just respond to stimuli; it can also ?invent? its own actions. Simple cognitive behaviours are encountered in many (but not all) arthropods, and all vertebrates.

Exploration is a simple cognitive behaviour which allows an animal to familiarize itself with new conditions in the environment. Objects are approached, inspected and then moved away from. This action is generally repeated, but with reduced frequency. The most complex environmental factors tend to stimulate the greatest exploratory activity. If mammals are prevented from exploration for long periods, their behaviour can become abnormal.

Play is a more advanced type of cognitive behaviour which occurs to some degree in most vertebrates; but more so in mammals. Play may involve more complex and diverse activity than exploration. Play and exploration together help animals adapt to both their physical and social environment. Lack of play in young animals can lead to social problems later in life (ie. they make poor parents or don?t react well with other animals). Another more complex cognitive behaviour seen in mammals is manipulative behaviour.

Species Behavioural Differences

The behaviour of horses has been affected by their evolutionary development.

Examples:

• Horses have lied in open grasslands for over 25 million years. Feed in these situations is high in fibre, and low in energy, thus slow to digest. This has caused horses to develop a behaviour of slow continuous feeding while slowly moving for most of the day. Conformation and behaviour of equine animals is adapted to this life of continuous grazing; and for this reason, even modern domesticated horses require several hours of slow movement each day.
• Horses evolved as herd animals, because they were vulnerable to attack by predators if they were alone in an open grassland environment. Being in a group increased the ability to detect and escape a threat. As a result, horses have evolved an inherent need to be near and interact with other horses. The need for social contact with other horses is essential.
• Horses have developed a flight behaviour (running away) as a natural reaction to threat. Their physiology has even adapted to support this behaviour. A horses first reaction to any threat or fear will naturally be to run away, and that behaviour is fixed in it?s genetics.

Domesticated Horse Behaviour is Different

Domestication of horses has affected it?s genetics and inherent behaviours; but to a limited degree.

Domestic horses may differ from wild ancestors and relatives in the following ways not just because they are around humans from birth, but also because these characteristics have been bred into them over time:

• Less Aggressive
• Tamer (less timid)
• Some sensory parts of the brain (sensory perception) have become less heightened (eg. The horse may not sense visual and other stimuli as sharply, because the need to do so has decreased. As a result, domestic horses are likely to be less stressed)
• Greater variation in performance, behaviour and physical attributes.

To Learn More -Enrol Today!

Develop your understanding of horse behaviour and your ability to apply that to the welfare and training of the horse.
Behaviour is any externally observable activity of an animal. In general, it includes:
• Movement of parts of the body
• Stopping expected movement
• Secretions from the body
• Changes in body colour

People study equine behaviour to be able to understand and recognise “normal” behaviour and from this be able to identify and do something about “abnormal” behaviour; and better manage a horse.  Knowledge of equine behaviour can also assist in training. By knowing how a horse is likely to behave in a certain situation, it allows the rider to prepare for it and to either avoid or resolve that particular situation.